Traits That Would Make You A Great Funeral Director

1. You're compassionate

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As a funeral director, one of the most important traits that you can have is to be genuinely compassionate and empathetic towards grieving families.  They are undoubtedly going through a tough time and it's your job to help them to feel like you really care about supporting them.

2. You have the ability to remain calm under pressure

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Being a funeral director is quite a high pressured job but showing that you're feeling the stress of the pressures you are facing is not helpful to grieving families.  So you need to make sure you are able to stay calm and collected, even when you are facing pressures from all angles.

3. You have excellent communication skills

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You need to make sure that you use excellent communication skills when you're helping families to make decisions about their loved one's funeral.  They're going to be grieving and this can make it much harder for them to focus and make decisions, and it's your job to keep them informed every step of the way.

4. Attention to detail

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You need to really care about your attention to detail because you need to make sure that every little detail of the funeral service has been carried out exactly as the family, and possibly the deceased, planned it.  You have to really care about doing a good job for the families without letting anything falter.

5. Organization

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When planning funerals, strong organizational skills are essential to ensure everything goes to plan and on time.  You need to be able to manage multiple funeral arrangements at once and make sure you're managing your calendar effectively, as well as managing the necessary paperwork involved.

6. Respect and understanding

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You have got to understand that families are mourning their loved ones all the time you are working with them to plan and carry out the funeral.  This means that emotions will be running quite high and how different people grieve is completely unique so you need to be able to show them the respect and understanding that they need.

7. Good time management

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You need to make sure that all aspects of the funeral service are carried out on schedule so you are going to need to be able to hone your excellent time management skills.  If anything runs behind, this can cause an unnecessary amount of upset and stress for the families who just don't need that.

8. Able to work with others

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When you are a funeral director, you need to be able to work well with others.  There will first and foremost be the families, and then there will be the funeral home staff and also the vendors too.  This means you'll need to be willing to work as part of one big team to ensure everything goes smoothly.

9. Flexibility

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You have to be prepared to be as flexible as possible as a funeral director, and this includes everything from having flexibility with mourning families to being prepared and willing to work overtime as well as evenings and weekends too.  It's all part and parcel of the job.

10. Able to handle the physical demands of the job

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Being a funeral director is also a very physical job and you need to make sure you can handle the physical demands of the job before you train for it.  These physical demands include lifting and moving the deceased so you need to make sure you're strong and mobile enough to meet those demands.

11. Comfortable with working with deceased bodies

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A big part of being a funeral director is having to work with the deceased so you need to be sure that this isn't something that you would be uncomfortable with.  You need to make sure you are able to find comfort in working with the deceased and making sure you have their best interests at heart.

12. Strong ethics and integrity

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To be a funeral director, you really do need to have a strong sense of ethics and integrity around everything that you do.  The families need to be able to trust you with their loved one, even when they're not there so you need to make sure you display your integrity for them to see.

13. Knowledge surrounding local laws and regulations

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You also need to be prepared to keep your knowledge up to date surrounding the local laws and regulations surrounding the practices associated with funerals and conducting burials.  And be aware that these laws and regulations can be subject to change so you need to be vigilant with this.

14. Ability to adapt

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You may need to adapt to different cultural and religious traditions at the request of the families you are working with so keeping your knowledge up to date with this and not being afraid to ask questions to clarify your understanding is essential to gaining experience and doing your very best for the families involved.

15. You're a good listener

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In order to become a funeral director, it is essential that you are not only an excellent communicator, but you're also able to listen too.  Sometimes grieving families just need someone to listen to them and showing that you are able to do this can mean a great deal.

16. You have good knowledge of equipment and procedures

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It's also really important that you're able to showcase your knowledge.  Particularly your knowledge of certain equipment and procedures such as embalming and cremation.  This will help you to keep families informed about exactly what happens every step of the way so they can make informed decisions.

17. Excellent customer service

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You also need to understand that your job is to also sell a service to your customers so you need to know what's on offer and know how to sell it to grieving families in a sensitive, supportive, and well-informed way.  You certainly don't want to appear too pushy but you do need to make sure they use your services too.

18. Strong interpersonal skills

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Having strong interpersonal skills can really help you to communicate well with people from all walks of life.  Being able to build a rapport can really make families feel supported and sure that they want to stick with you throughout the process of planning and conducting a funeral service.

19. Good problem solver

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Sometimes, like with any planning, problems, and complications can and do arise.  And the size of the problem and how detrimental it might be to the planning and the service itself is down to your problem-solving skills.  If you have good problem-solving skills, complications might never get so big that they cause upset and stress.

20. Able to keep accurate records

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As a funeral director, you need to be able to keep accurate records, particularly within your paperwork.  You are going to need to collect details of the deceased, of the families, and of the decisions made about their service, as well as paperwork from vendors and procedures.

21. Can handle financial transactions

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Families will be paying for certain services and procedures so you need to be sure that you are able to handle financial transactions, making sure that they're accurate and recorded appropriately.  You'll also need to be able to keep financial records and track your spending too.

22. Excellent sales skills

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As a funeral director, you will be selling your services to families and there will no doubt be a number of options for them to choose from.  So here's where your own sales skills come in because you can use your knowledge, and sensitive persuasion, to help the families make informed choices about which services and products they wish to purchase from you.

23. Knowledge of grief counseling techniques

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When you are communicating and building a rapport with grieving families, it can be useful to build and maintain your knowledge of different grief counseling techniques and collect resources to help you to communicate and support families as effectively as you can.

24. Able to maintain confidentiality

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There needs to also be a level of trust in your funeral home's practices and for families to feel comfortable opening up to you.  The usual procedures are that you maintain a level of confidentiality and trust between you and your clients and this should be clearly stated verbally and on any relevant paperwork.

25. Good at marketing

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To survive as a funeral home, you're inevitably going to need customers and in order to attract new families to use your services or retain existing ones, you really need to be able to be excellent at marketing yourself in appropriate and perhaps creative ways.

26. Knowledge of costs

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It is important to make sure you know the facts about your services before speaking to any family.  This can help you to build a sense of trust and maintain your professionalism.  And one of the most important facts you need to get accurate is the costs of your services.  Families need to know where they stand with this and you need to be prepared to be compassionate if they can't afford it.

27. Willingness to continually learn

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Industry practices, local laws, and regulations are constantly changing, and as a funeral director, you are going to be meeting people from a variety of walks of life.  This means that you need to be able to continually learn how to communicate effectively, build up your knowledge of the traditions that are out there, and keep up to date with any industry changes.

28. Patience

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Patience is a virtue that is essential for funeral directors to have.  You are going to be speaking with so many people who are grieving, and they are going to be grieving in different ways, so you need to be prepared to give them the time they need and show them that you are patient and ready to listen when they are ready to talk.

29. Dedication

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All in all, to be a funeral director, you really need to be dedicated to your profession.  For many, this job isn't just a job, it's actually a calling, and funeral directors are always dedicated to providing a respectful and meaningful final tribute to the deceased that is going to help their loved ones to say goodbye.

30. Knowing that there are so many different layers to the job

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But there are so many different layers to this job and you've got to be prepared to take all of the roles on.  These include funeral planning, working with the deceased, there's an element of grief counseling, public speaking, planning, sales and marketing and the list goes on.